Tales of the Titans: The Passcode
by Nitebreaker
Summary: Ever wonder how Beast Boy stumbled onto the passcode for Raven's room, and why she never changed it? Another one-shot that wouldn't leave me alone. Enjoy!


Tales of the Titans: the Passcode

_Another one-shot that wouldn't leave me alone. Sorta comes in before "The Truth," but, really, you can place it anywhere you like. At least, anywhere prior to "Crucible," which I haven't published yet. Enjoy!_

_I don't own the Teen Titans._

It had been a long, hard day, and Garfield was massaging Terra in their room. She smiled as she lay there, enjoying the sensual feel of his fingers working through the knots of muscle in her bare back. As usual, she lay on her face; although he was no stranger to the sight of her naked upper torso, there was no point in teasing him with it unnecessarily.

Another smile, this one sorta dirty. Well. Not yet, anyway.

"Mmm. You know, someday, you gotta tell me how you learned to do all this. Or is this another one of those things I'm better off not knowing about?"

He hesitated, and that told her a lot, all by itself. "Well, actually, I learned it from some DVDs I got. I could show 'em to you. I think they're still around here, some place."

"So this was one time Raven wasn't involved?"

Again a hesitation. "Not really. Well, sort of. I mean, it really wasn't anything worth mentioning….."

"You realize, of course, that the way you phrased that, I _have_ to know, now."

"Yeah, I was kinda afraid of that…."

She sighed, lying face down, there on their bed. "Okay. You may as well spill. I'm a captive audience. Besides. It can't be really bad, can it?" Silence. "GarFIELD? I said, it can't be really bad, can it?" _Jealousy rising, here._

"Awright, already. Get your shirt on and I'll tell you the whole gruesome story."

Once they got settled in, with Beast Boy in his sleep pants, and Terra in her sleep shirt, he began. "Well, it was about a year and a half ago, I'm guessing. That mess with Trigon was over with, Raven victorious, as I'm sure you heard. And Raven had started to come out of her shell a little. I mean, she didn't have to worry anymore about her dad—if that's the word for him—causing trouble. So she was, y'know, kinda getting used to being more open. And I was just coming to realize that she tended to destroy her alarm clocks. I mean, I was in charge of garbage detail, and I kept finding pieces of broken clocks in there. A lot. I asked Raven about it, but she was like, no, nothing's wrong. You know how Raven can be when she really doesn't want to talk about something that makes her uncomfortable…."

_Backthen:_ Beast Boy was making his rounds around the Tower. He, as well as the other Titans, regularly patrolled the hallways, just to make sure nobody had slipped in past the electronic screens. It was unlikely, but it occasionally happened, often enough to require manual security screenings. And although Beast Boy might joke around a lot, he took his duties seriously. To do otherwise was to invite disaster.

It was sheer good luck that he happened to be passing by Raven's room when he heard a gasp come from within. Considering that her door was locked tightly, he knew it had to be some gasp.

He rushed up to her door. "Raven? You okay in there?" No response.

Garfield fretted. He waited a moment longer, then: "Raven? Are you alright? Is something wrong?" Again, no response.

He thought about calling Cyborg. Cyborg had the override codes for the rooms….but then he remembered: Cyborg was at Titans' East again. And the others were out…..

He pulled up the screen pad for her room's code. A guess….he punched in some numbers. Nothing happened. Okay, setback. Then he thought….punched in another set….and Raven's door opened with an almost silent _swhish._

The room was dark, except for the light coming from the bathroom and the window. There were candles placed in a pentagram, in the center of the open space Raven kept in her room for just such ceremonies.

And there was what appeared to be a crumpled heap of blue clothing in the exact center of the pentagram. His heart in his throat, Beast Boy rushed over, heedless of anything save his friend.

Raven lay face down in the middle of the pentagram, her legs drawn up and arms by her head. He turned her over, checking her pulse and breathing automatically. "Raven! _Raven!_ Wake up!" He jiggled her face slightly, trying to get her to wake up. That's when she did something he'd never heard her do before, and something he fervently hoped she'd never do again.

She _whimpered._

It was the sound of someone in mortal anguish, a sound that could only come from the uttermost depths of pain. And, coming from _his _Raven, it tore right into his chest and twisted his heart up into a knot, like spaghetti wrapped around a fork. He found himself placing her on her bed; he didn't remember getting up or picking her up. All he knew was, he had to get her someplace more comfortable.

Raven lay on her bed, on her side, legs drawn up and arms in front of her chest, in a semi-fetal position. He couldn't leave her like this; from the look on her face, she was in agony.

He rolled her over on her back, and began trying to get her legs to straighten out. They were as tense as two pieces of wood, and he began, more by reflex than anything, to knead them, feeling for knots of muscle, and finding plenty. Meanwhile, Raven shivered; a strange kind of quivering that could only be involuntary.

What had happened? Beast Boy knew zip about magic, but he knew enough to be wary of it. And for all her power, Raven was still a seventeen-year old girl; it was entirely possible she'd bitten off more than she could chew. He hoped she was alright, and that this was "just" some sort of seizure, but, thing was, he didn't _know._

Rub the legs, rub the legs. Find the knotted muscles, knead them until they went away. Finally, he got her legs to straighten out. Now for the arms.

Rub and knead, rub and knead. At long last, he got them to relax a little. He tried to position her better, straightening her arms out by her side, not daring to leave her long enough even to hit the emergency call button by the wall. He was too afraid she'd stop breathing or something.

He rolled her over onto her face, knelt over her, and began to knead her shoulders. She began to relax gradually. He tried to rub her back through her suit, but found he couldn't feel the lumps of muscle as well through the cloth.

Well. There was no help for it. He hoped she'd understand.

He pulled the zipper on the back of her suit down, peeling her costume back as far as he could. Now he kneaded her bare shoulders, moving on down her back, undoing the back of her bra as he did so. Plenty of knotted muscle tissue there.

The spinal column is a marvelous organ, but it doesn't take much to throw it out of balance. Garfield was no chiropractor, but even he knew that knotted lumps of muscle tissue this close to the spine could easily cause some serious problems.

Rub and knead, rub and knead. What in the world could she have done to herself? Surely, this couldn't be normal. Rub and knead, rub and knead. He could only go so far, of course, and no way was he undressing her any further, but he could get to some of what he hoped were the worst of the knots.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour or more, she began to breathe more steadily and deeply, without hitching. _He_ began to breathe better, just seeing her do so. Then, "Gar…field?"

"Yeah, Rae. I'm here. What happened?"

"The…the spell. Couldn't….hold it. Some sort of backlash." She paused, breathing in and out some more, in a way consciously designed to relax. "How…how did you get in?"

"Your door was open. Rae, are you alright? I mean, I know diddly about magic, but….you're you, aren't you?"

"Yes, Garfield. I'm me. You, uhm, mind fastening me back up again?" He hurriedly fastened her bra back and zipped her suit back up, and she rolled over, putting a hand to her forehead. She was still awfully pale, even for her. "I always lock my door."

He shrugged. "You must've forgotten. Good thing you did, too. I couldn't have gotten in, otherwise, with Cy off. I mean, I guess I could've smashed it in, but…."

"It's….alright. Yeah, good thing I….forgot." She looked him straight in the eyes while she said it. He smiled benignly and thought good foodie thoughts. Tofu burgers, vegetarian pizza, an ice-cold glass of soy milk… After a moment, she looked away. "Still…hurts."

"I'll get you some aspirin. Or would you prefer something else? We've got stronger stuff, if you need it."

"Aspirin….will be fine." She paused again, putting both hands to her face. "I guess this makes two times now you've….come to my rescue."

"Hey, you've saved my bacon more times than I can count. This wasn't even close to paying you back."

"Maybe." Again a long pause. Then, "I guess I'll….take that aspirin now, if you don't mind."

"You gonna be okay while I go get it?"

"Yeah." Off he went. When he got back, she swallowed three aspirin with a glass of water he'd brought. "I think I'll go into my healing trance now." She saw his anxious expression, and smiled through her pain. "It's okay, Garfield. I'm okay. Just sore. But I'll be okay."

"Alright. I'll go on, then. But if you need anything….."

"I'll let you know."

"Want me to lock your door on the way out?"

"It's just us, here in the Tower, isn't it?" He nodded. "No, don't bother." Again she smiled, an expression not yet common to her normally solemn, pretty face. It washed over her whole face, making her light up, he thought. Made her look like an entirely different person. A _happier_ person. And with that, a thought flashed through his mind: Raven's room was her bedroom, after all. And she was telling him—no, _allowing_ him-not to lock himself out of it…. That could be interpreted in more than one way.

_But I choose to interpret it this way,_ he thought, even as he got up. He suddenly bent forward and impulsively kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Raven. Call me if you need anything." _My sister._

"I will," she replied, her smile widening. _Little brother._

_Here and now:_ "And afterwards, just in case, I bought some DVDs on massaging. Still got 'em, somewhere around here."

Terra shook her head in silence. She was coming to realize that Garfield and Raven had a relationship that was unlike anything she'd ever heard of. It wasn't sexual, but it went way beyond the fraternal….."Well, don't keep me in the dark. What _is_ her passcode? Just out of curiosity, I mean."

"999." He saw her look. "666 turned upside down."

"Oh. Well, _duh_."


End file.
